Breaking Dawn
by Eternal-Dark Flame
Summary: A new hero arrives in Jump City. But when old enemies follow him will the Titans be able to trust this new ally? My second story. TerraxOC. Maybe BBxRae later.
1. Dawn

Raptor565: Ok for all of you who read my last craptacular story "Banish the Darkness" your probably wondering what the hell I'm doing writing again. Well I've taken a long while to study up and think about this story. I like this idea. But what's important to me is that you like it. Enough of my rambling without further ado I give you my second shot at a story.

Chapter 1: Dawn

Dawn…

The sun had begun its slow ascent into the morning sky, sending its first rays of warm sunlight into Jump City's numerous skyscrapers. The many reflections of the glass windows gave Jump City, when observed from a distance, an attractive rippling effect. It was the wee hours of the morning when all was silently awaiting to greet the new day. It was a truly breathtaking sight.

Unfortunately the only one observing this singularly beautiful sight was not really paying any attention to it. He was standing not far from where the Teen Titans had first encountered the geomancer Terra. The boy stood at rapt attention overlooking what appeared to be a giant monolith against the sunrise: Titans Tower. The boy scowled darkly. Any passerby might have pegged this boy for sixteen or so. He had silky black hair akin to raven feathers. His bangs fell just short of his steel grey eyes and a carelessly handsome face that looked intricately carved out of lacquered wood. The boy's stance, while tense, exuded an air of self-confidence and purpose.

This boy's name was Ryan Vanders and he was a superhero…sort of. Ryan liked to believe he was a superhero, but some part of his brain told him that he didn't have the right mentality of superhero. True he helped save people's lives but somehow he didn't always feel desire to. Ryan didn't fight crime to help people or uphold justice or any of that… he just did. Ever since acquiring his strange and unusual powers Ryan felt somewhat of an obligation to help the innocent. But some days Ryan felt that the human race really wasn't worth saving. Ryan had been to a lot of places; Bludhaven and Gotham among others. Ryan had seen some of the best the human race had to offer, he'd also seen some of the worst. Somewhere along his journey Ryan had picked up an intense cynicism that he hadn't really been able to shake.

Now he had arrived in Jump City and probably would be fighting crime within a couple hours. But Ryan's brain reminded him that if he was to fight crime here he would probably run into Jump City's famous superhero team, the Teen Titans. In all actuality Ryan possessed no desire to meet the team of Heros. But he most likely would… if that wasn't a kick in the teeth Ryan didn't know what was.

Ryan preferred to avoid other superheros. He didn't want them asking questions about his powers. If Ryan was honest with himself he knew that if he told how he got his powers any reasonable superhero would lock him up and throw away the key.

But still…

Here he was. Ready to fly himself right into danger's waiting jaws. Just as he had done a hundred times before. For the umpteenth Ryan wondered why he did this to himself. Was it the thrill? Or did he just not care about himself? Yeah it was probably that one. Still, Ryan thought as his wings sprouted, the thrill was always a useful novelty.

So? Did you like it or hate it? Either way tell me so I know where to go from here. Criticisms are welcome/appreciated.


	2. Midmorning Memories

Raptor565: Ok I completely forgot a disclaimer for my first chapter (smacks forehead). Also if anyone is reading this please review. I need to know if anyone likes this before I continue.

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. Although that would be cool._

Chapter 2: Midmorning Memories

She was very lucky.

It was a simple fact that Terra knew to be true. And now that she really thought about it, that statement seemed like a massive understatement. Still… It was a fact that Terra liked to remind herself of every day.

Everything could have been so much worse….

Terra could make a list of how bad things might have been;

1. She could still be stone

2. She could have destroyed the Titans

3. She could still not remember anything

And this was just naming a few of Terra's constant anxieties. But it had all worked out in the end. Terra had earned her redemption from Slade and had recovered her memories.

After Beast Boy's visit to her school, Tara Markov began to remember some very strange things. Soaring around on a rock, fighting crime, and traveling to a great many places, among other vivid memories. These unusual memories were followed, to her horror, by even more unusual powers. At first, Tara didn't know quite what to do. Her powers scared her, she did remember how out-of-control her powers would get, half to death before she finally decided to do something about it.

Tara journeyed into the desert bordering Jump City for a week. Tara spent that week getting back into absolute and total control of her volatile powers. After she was absolutely sure she was back in control, she began to wonder what she would do with her powers. She could go back to school….

Or

She could pick up that old, familiar pair of goggles again. She chose the latter. Partly because she wanted to make up for some of the terrible things she had done. And partly because being a superhero was just too damn fun. Now all she needed was a name. That's when she remembered what Beast Boy had called her.

Terra smiled.

*******

As the newly reborn Terra stood in front of the giant doors of Titans Tower, she had no idea what she was going to tell them. She took a deep breath, hoped for the best, and rang the bell. It was Robin who answered the door.

He just stared at her, giving her the impression he was peering deep inside her. Finally he spoke:

"So your back" It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Terra shuffled her feet in an embarrassed sort of way "Yeah"

"Well come in. The others are going to want to see you"

Terra followed Robin to the main room where the rest of the team was congregated. Starfire was cooking something in the kitchen. Raven sat at the table with her nose in a book. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing some racing game or another. It was Starfire who looked up first:

"TERRA?!!"

This exclamation caused everyone else to look in their direction. Cyborg and Beast Boy's controllers dropped, shortly followed by their jaws. Raven's only reaction was to slightly widen her eyes.

The silence that followed was incredibly awkward and heavy. Terra felt she had to say something.

"Umm. Hi guys".

These few words seemed to work a magic that got everyone back in motion. In a few seconds Terra was lambasted with so many how are yous and what happends it was making her head spin.

Fortunately Robin was there to restore order.

"GUYS. Slow down. I'm sure Terra is going to explain everything."

So for the next hour that's exactly what Terra did. She explained about recovering her memories and powers. And she explained the time she had taken to get her powers under control. All through her narrative the Titans stayed silent and let Terra do most of the talking. Robin would occasionally interrupt and ask a question, but for the most part they all listened.

After Terra's story ended, the Titans sent her out in the hallway to await their decision. Terra was quite antsy for the next half hour, out in that lonely hallway. When Cyborg finally came and got her she thought she would die of nervousness. When Robin told her that all the Titans had agreed to let her back on the team Terra let out the biggest sigh of relief that she probably ever had.

*******

That was almost a year ago and Terra still liked to remind herself of how lucky she had been. True, it was the past and she should just let it be. Everything had worked out, right?

But something deep inside the geomancer told her to count her blessings.

Now as she stared out the window out at the bay, Terra felt an inexplicable contentment seep through her body. She smiled at the memories she created with her friends, both old and new. Knowing what she knows Terra decided that she would not give up her friends, who had given her another chance to do good, for anything.

As Terra stared out the giant window in the Titan's living room she saw something quite bizarre. Something strange was flying, thanks to a giant black pair of wings that extended from the figures back, over the bay towards Jump City. The figure _looked_ human but Terra couldn't tell for certain. As Terra stood there, debating on whether to call the others or not, the figure put on a burst of speed and exited her field of vision.

"Hey Terra, watcha staring at?" Beast Boy's voice sounded from behind her. Clearly he had not seen the oddity. Terra jumped at the sound of his voice.

Terra found herself stumbling over words. "N-nothing. Don't worry about it BB."

Beast Boy looked like he was about to say something.

Then the alarm started blaring.

Ugh… This chapter was long. I didn't like it to much. But hopefully the action will start next chapter.


	3. A Day In The Life

Raptor 565: I just have to say thanks to Heroboy 163. You rock.

Chapter 3: A Day In The Life

Kyd Wykkyd found himself smirking.

True, there really wasn't anything outwardly to smirk about. But still he was smirking at the plans, which was working like a dream, flawlessness. From his perch over the doors Kyd Wykkyd had a spectacular view of the entire bank. Gizmo had easily disabled the alarms upon entry. See-More had gone to work, with an eyebeam, on the vaults hinges. Mammoth was waiting for See-More to make the hinges soft enough to rip off. And Kyd Wykkyd had taken up his post over the door, with an armful of flash bang grenades to drop on those loser Titans. The only hitch was that the cops had shown up anyway. Probably from someone spotting them. But they wouldn't enter, at least not until the Titans arrived. Everything was perfect.

That's when that little thing called Murphy's Law took effect.

After disabling the alarms, Gizmo had taken to hovering around the small huddle of civilians that had been unfortunate enough to be at Jump City National Bank at this early hour. After the H.I.V.E-F.I.V.E had burst into the bank all of the civilians had been shepherded into a corner with the orders to stay quiet. Unfortunately for Gizmo, from his current position he could not see the center of the bank. As Kyd Wykkyd's gaze swept the bank, the crest of Jump City National Bank began to undulate. At first Kyd thought he was just seeing things. That belief held up until a giant black tentacle shot out of the ground and wrapped around Gizmo, crushing the tech on his back. Gizmo screamed some loud obscenity or another and the tentacle, apparently taking exception to Gizmo's outburst, sent Gizmo flying, right at Kyd Wykkyd. Now Kyd, whose mind was trying to process the existence of this tentacle from nowhere, realized a second too late that Gizmo's bald head was flying towards him. Gizmo collided with Kyd Wykkyd with enough force to send a grown man twenty feet back. But Kyd was up against a wall so instead of getting flown back; Kyd was sandwiched between the wall and Gizmo. As Kyd faded into unconsciousness, his mind drifted back to that old saying about best laid plans. The irony.

Mammoth had heard Gizmo's shout and ran to investigate. Upon entering the room Mammoth noticed two things; 1. Gizmo and Kyd Wykkyd were lying unconscious near the door and 2. The civilians in the corner were staring in open mouth awe at something in the center of the room. Following their line of vision Mammoth looked to the center of the room to see a blur of black flying towards him. Mammoth had about enough time to blink. At the end of aforementioned blink something wrapped around Mammoth's ankles, picked him up like a child, smashed him through a large stone pillar to Mammoth's left, and threw him back through the door he had come through back into the vault area. As the civilians watched this strange anomaly the tentacle seemed to shrink back towards the floor. The tentacle shrunk to a length a little longer than a human arm and the floor started rippling more as a figure started to emerge from the ground. Once fully emerged, the figure stood at a solid 5 feet 5 inches, it was completely covered by black, no insignia no nothing on its costume. The only distinguishing features of this figure were its eyes. There were large white covers on the eyes similar to Robin's mask.

As the figure emerged it became apparent that the tentacle that came out of the floor was one of four similar tentacles on its back. After the figure was fully emerged it looked around as if critiquing its work. It then turned to the group and began speaking in a strange distorted voice that sounded like two people were speaking.

"Any more of those guys around?" it said in an unmistakably male voice.

The group let out a collective nod and pointed to the area where he had tossed Mammoth. The figure sighed strangely before advancing towards the door. As he neared the door See-More, rather foolishly, came running out with a large sack of money in his hands. Upon seeing this strange figure in black See-More yelped in surprise and dropped the money. The figure just stared at See-More in a very bored way.

"Who are you?!!" See-More shouted while raising his hand to his eye in a threatening way.

The figure simply replied "I'm Darkside and your dead meat"

Darkside suddenly sent what looked like a shot of his costume at See-More which covered his eye and effectively blinded him. As See-More flailed around blindly, Darkside closed the distance between them and, with a few well placed strikes; See-More joined his partners in unconsciousness.

Darkside had all of five seconds to catch his breath when the door burst open. This unobtrusive event was shortly followed by the obligatory shout of;

"Titans GO!!!"

Well I hope that was actiony by some stretch of the imagination. Read and Review please.


	4. Just My Luck

Raptor565: At this point I have no idea if people are even reading this. But I'll continue this any way because it's fun. Anyway I promise some action in this chapter. So here it is.

Chapter 4: Just My Luck…

Upon hearing Robin's shout of "Titans, Go!!" Ryan had a thought that quickly became a major problem.

_He was holding the bag of money_

After knocking See-More unconscious, Ryan had picked up the fallen bag of money intending to return it to the vault. Instead all he had gotten to do was pick up the bag.

This all added up to Darkside looking guilty as hell along with the very slim chance of getting out of this mess without a fight.

Ryan/Darkside was suddenly seized by the desire to curse all gods, known and unknown, for his rotten luck. Although, to be fair, part of this was his fault. He knew the Titans were coming, but that didn't stop him from putting his hands all over the freaking evidence.

So here he stood faced with a choice. He could; a: Fight his way out or b: Try and talk his way out of this heap of trouble. The sad truth was that neither of these options were particularly appealing, or at all likely to work for that matter. So Ryan supposed the best he could do right now was defend himself without really fighting the Titans. Hopefully one of them would catch on and stop the fight before people got hurt.

"Yeah, like that's going to happen." Ryan thought to himself.

But still... it was the best he could hope for.

Ryan turned with a sigh to face Starfire who was flying straight at him, her hands and eyes glowing green and ready to go. When Starfire was about five feet away Darkside shot the two tentacles close to his shoulders straight up. They latched to the ceiling and pulled Darkside into a spectacular front flip right over Starfire. And it accomplished exactly what Ryan intended it to. As Darkside flipped over Starfire, she turned her attention away from in front of her to watch him. But she kept flying straight and her momentum carried her directly into a wall.

Ryan had to chuckle as he watched Starfire collide with the wall but he had barely enough time to get his focus back before he had to dodge a sonic blast from Cyborg. Taking a wide flip to the left, Darkside wound up on Beast Boy who had transformed into a rhino. Using a smaller version of his tentacles that came of his wrists, Ryan took control of Beast Boys charge before he could do anything. Ryan directed Beast Boy at Robin who, of course, dodged. Jumping off of Beast Boys back, Ryan had to change his course in mid jump due to Raven sending some sort of magical blast his way. Ryan's landing put him face to face with the geomancer; Terra.

Ryan prepared himself for a fight.

**************

Terra had been observing the Titan's fight with, whatever this thing was, since the beginning. And something was bothering her about this whole situation. One of the things Terra carried over from Slade's training was watching the opponent, by studying the way they handled themselves in battle you could figure out what their intentions were. For example, when Terra had first betrayed the Titans, during her first fight with them the Titans had fought slowly and with much hesitation. Terra knew that was because they didn't want to hurt her. But later they fought ferociously and very quickly, this mirrored their desire to punish her for what she had done.

The thing that bothered her was the fact that this thing was exhibiting none of the characteristics normally associated with a bank robber. It wasn't fighting in rushed manner like it was trying to get away. Neither was it fighting like it wanted to hurt them. On the contrary it seemed to be going out of its way to not hurt them. And it was ignoring the convenient group of hostages who were still in a terrified huddle in a corner.

Terra decided, as crazy as it sounded, to try and talk to this thing. But right as Terra made that decision something very unexpected happened.

The thing landed right in front of her and took a ready stance.

Terra, who had been lost in thought, reacted instinctively and hurled a large chunk of earth right at its head. It wasn't hit. Instead it back flipped right back into the center of the bank. As the Titans surrounded it, the things tentacles on it back grew huge and it looked prepared for the next attack. Terra had to speak up.

"STOP!!"

All eyes in the bank turned on Terra. She frowned and continued.

"Robin haven't you been paying attention? This thing hasn't been trying to hurt us. I think were kind of confused here. Let's try and talk to this thing and get its side of the story before we go attacking it."

Robin frowned but acquiesced her request.

All the time she had been speaking the things eyes had never left Terra. It seemed to be absorbing her. It finally spoke in a strange but male voice.

"Thanks for noticing. I'm glad someone figured it out I was starting to worry. The names Darkside." Darkside spoke in very nonchalant kind of way, like he was commenting on something other than his own misfortune. But Terra could hear traces of true relief underneath the currents of indifference.

Robin continued to eye this Darkside character with an incredible amount of suspicion. Finally he managed to ask why Darkside had fought them.

Darkside's answer was an incredibly sarcastic one.

"Yes, how dare I defend myself? Wasn't I aware that you were trying to beat me down? How rude of me."

The only response to this show of guts was Beast Boy snorting in laughter. He was silenced by a quick elbow in the ribs from Raven.

Following this was a very pointed pause in which no one spoke or moved. All of the Titans, with the exception of Beast Boy and Terra, were watching Darkside warily.

Finally Darkside spoke up.

"Well as enlightening as this whole thing has been, I really must be going."

With that the mystery figure began to slowly sink back into the floor. Before he disappeared completely Terra shouted out.

"Wait, how would you like to be a Titan?"

Darkside let out a strange noise that Terra perceived as laughter before replying: "I work alone"

Darkside then vanished completely, leaving a slightly shimmering floor and a hint of mystery in his enigmatic wake.

Raptor565: To anyone habitually reading this I'm sorry I took so long to update. I promise to be quicker with chapters in the future. Also I have to give a very special thanks to iRedeem. Your review gave me the push I needed to finish this chapter. So thanks a lot and you rock.


	5. An Astonishing Conincidence

Raptor: Holy crud it took me forever to get some inspiration for this chapter. Hopefully I can freaking move on now.

Chapter 5: An Astonishing Coincidence

In a rather unobtrusive alleyway between the Princeton office building and the next an extraordinary event was taking shape. With witnesses no more articulate than the building itself a strange shadow was rising up from the ground. The shadow took form and separated itself from the ground, took a quick glance around, and then the shadows began to recede. The shadows pulled back and a pair of pale yet well built arms became visible. Eventually the shadows were gone and in its place stood a handsome teenage boy looking as though he had just escaped a dangerous situation. Now looking completely average, the boy set off at a smart pace in a westerly direction.

As Ryan headed down the sidewalk, trying to look as average as possible, he breathed an internal sigh of relief. That had been an extremely close call. He sorely wished that he hadn't had to scuffle with the Titans; the looks on most of them spoke of distrust in the least.

"_Although, it's not like they gave me much choice_" Ryan thought.

He had to concede that it was by pure luck he got out of that particular situation. If the geomancer hadn't caught on and stopped the fight things could have gotten nasty. Ryan found her sense of perception surprisingly sharp, especially since she looked younger than him by at least a year. Maybe she had traveled a lot like he had. Or maybe she had some kind of special training. Or both. Whatever the story on the girl he knew as Terra, she certainly was intriguing. In a purely academic sense, of course! Ryan shook his head from side to side, trying to clear his head of Terra's vexing image.

"_Snap out of it Ryan! She's just another girl."_

But was she... She looked so naturally beautiful, like a princess, you'd never suspect her as a capable superhero. While Ryan was lost in his dreamy musings he could hear a dry snicker coming from the back of his mind. He immediately turned red as he realized he had been overheard.

"_Oh, shut up_" Ryan thought irritably in response. The snickering abruptly stopped though Ryan could still feel such an incredible sense of smugness it ought to be fined.

"To bad the law doesn't cover parasites" Ryan said out loud, earning several strange looks from the people around him. Ignoring their stares, Ryan looked up and realized that he was standing in front of a pizza parlor. Suddenly realizing how hungry he was, Ryan decided to get some lunch.

Terra didn't know how to feel at the moment. On one hand she felt bad that she had helped someone possibly dangerous get away. Who knew what this Darkside's deal was, he could be a threat. On the other hand she got the feeling that this wasn't a bad guy, as a matter of fact she was sorely reminded of herself. If she had a third hand she might add that she was incredibly annoyed at Robin's incessant lecturing on safety and good judgment. The nice thing was that Robin tended to go on and on without stopping for a while. So she could just look sorry and occasionally nod her head and it would be over soon enough. Speaking of which….

"And I need you to exercise greater caution in the future. People's lives are at stake. Do you understand Terra?" Robin bantered.

Terra sighed. Some things never change.

"Yeah, I understand Robin.' Terra said assuming an expression appropriate to a funeral.

After the bank robbery they were back at Titans Tower. Robin had pulled her aside to "discuss the possible implications of her actions". He had sent Cyborg to see if he could find any records on this "Darkside". The other Titans were scattered around the Tower, handling their own business. Now out of lecture mode, Robin accompanied Terra to the common room to see if Cyborg had made any progress.

Upon entering the common room Terra noticed that Cyborg seemed to be waiting for them. The look on his face was curious, like he was somewhat surprised.

"Well Cyborg? What did you find out?" Robin asked in a businesslike tone. Cyborg seemed to prepare himself before answering.

"I've looked all over the place for records of this Darkside guy. And there isn't much to find. There are reports of him all over the place." Cyborg began reciting a list of places. "Bludhaven, Gotham, Steel City, and Metropolis, to make a long list short." Cyborg took a deep breath before continuing. "Each place he never stayed more than a few weeks, just long enough to do some good then disappeared again."

Robin's expression was inscrutable under his mask. "How long has he been active?"

"About a year" Cyborg replied. "Whoever or whatever he was before that is anyone's guess. But he looks like a hero to me, just a shy one." Cyborg added with a quick smile.

Robin still looked troubled. "Let's keep an eye out for him. Something's not right about this guy."

At this moment Cyborg's stomach chose to let out a rather loud and protesting growl. Robin smiled.

"Let's gather the other Titans and get some lunch."

"_Really, that had to be some of the best pizza I've ever had_" Ryan thought contentedly. He was still at the pizza parlor, sipping on soda, and fooling around until some new catastrophe struck. He had, to his great pleasure, found a discarded "Tourist Guide to Jump City". He was reading up on some of the finer points of the city when he found the page that housed the pizza parlor he was currently at. Engrossed as he was in the book he walked through the parlor, not paying attention to where he was going. The description of the pizza parlor read thusly:

"Particularly well known for its diverse selection of pizza toppings since 1962, Antonio's Pizza Parlor has gained fame in recent years for being the preferred lunch spot of Jump City's fabulous super hero team, The Teen Titans."

As he reached the part about the Titans Ryan, rather abruptly, collided with someone sending their drinks crashing to the floor. Ryan jumped to his feet, apologies spewing from his mouth and holding out his hand to assist the person. However when he got a good look at her he stopped in his tracks.

He had run smack dab into Terra.

Terra rubbed her back where she had landed on it. It had hurt a lot. She had just fetched drinks for the team when she had looked away for a moment and promptly run into someone. She looked up at the idiot who was now holding out his hand, intending to give this jerk a piece of her mind, when she stopped dead. First she noticed that she had run into a boy about sixteen years old. But he wasn't just any other boy. He was an incredibly good looking one. He had rather pale skin that was stretched over an extremely well built body. He wore a baggy black "Linkin Park" shirt with a stainless steel chain around his neck. His face was well defined with prominent features. Silky black hair fell just short of his dark grey eyes that seemed to deepen into infinity. And right at this very moment he seemed to be just as gob-smacked as she was. Eventually she took his still outstretched hand in a rather dreamy way. He pulled her to her feet with surprising strength.

"Are you alright?" The mystery boy asked. His voice was controlled and even. But curiously emotional.

"Yea- Yeah." Terra stuttered out feeling stupid the sight of this guy had turned her into a blushing schoolgirl.

"Let me get you some drinks to replace those" He said gesturing to the mess on the floor. Terra could summon no more presence of mind than to nod. "I'm Ryan by the way" he added.

"I'm Terra" she replied. Terra was glad to see that she was getting her cognition back.

The boy nodded slyly. "I know. Your one of the Teen Titans." An amused sparkle had entered his eyes.

Terra suddenly realized that in all of her time in Jump City she had never seen this boy before.

"Are you new in town…Ryan?" she asked. Terra felt quite strange in saying his name. Like there was some hidden power to it.

Ryan made a strange movement somewhere between a shrug and a grimace. "Yeah. My parents move around a lot on business. So I'm never in any one place more than a few weeks. The upside is that I've seen a lot of things most kids my age haven't seen. Downside is that I can't really make any friends. My parents and I are staying at the Marriott on the other side of town."

Terra felt both a stab of pity and a stab of nostalgia. She remembered the thrill of the road. But she also knew the aching loneliness of travel. She decided to at least give this kid some friends to remember.

"Hey Ryan, how would you like to meet the other Titans? That way you can at least say you made some friends." Terra asked excitedly.

The magic of that simple statement was incredible. Their entire conversation Ryan had been watching her with polite interest. The second the words left her mouth however Ryan's whole composure changed completely. His smile disappeared and his eyes took on a cast almost close to panic.

"Ah... I'm s-s-sorry. M-My parents are waiting for me." He stammered out. "Um... Bye."

With that Ryan turned and practically flew out of the parlor. Terra watched him go for a matter of exactly two seconds. Then turned and headed out to the patio where the other Titans were. She, very quickly, explained that she had met someone suspicious and was going to trail him. Robin nodded and instructed her to stay in contact.

Terra exited the parlor and set off in Ryan's last known direction. She eventually caught sight of his retreating form. His panic had disappeared and he had taken on a confident stride. Terra found it interesting that he was headed in the opposite direction of the Marriott that he claimed he was staying at. As she was about to confront him about this there was an explosion a few blocks ahead. She instinctively turned towards the sound and, to her surprise, so did Ryan. His eyes narrowed and in a second he was all business. He ducked into an alleyway directly to his right. A second later the guy from the bank jumped out of the alleyway and headed towards the noise.

"_Ryan is Darkside_". Terra realized then she followed him. She started running when she realized she was being stupid. Terra summoned a rock platform and directed it towards the explosion site where smoke was now rising. There she found Ryan perched on a lamppost like some bizarre bird of prey overlooking none other than the Magnificent Mumbo.

"You a clown?" Darkside quipped "Can't say I'm impressed. Where's your seltzer bottle?" Mumbo looked completely unabashed.

"That was just the opening act, my young friend. Now we move on to the main event." Mumbo crowed. Suddenly he looked up and spied Terra who was busy informing the other Titans on her communicator.

"Ah… The target audience!" And with that Mumbo whipped his hat off his head and pointed it at Terra. With a resounding boom an actual cannonball shot out of the hat in a beeline towards Terra. She looked up at the boom but that was all she got to do. It slammed into her at full force. Terra felt the hit, and then she got the peculiar sense of falling.

Then everything faded out.

Raptor: So what do you think? Tell me. Anonymous reviews are now on.


	6. Waking Up and Moving Ahead

Chapter 6: Waking Up and Moving Ahead

To say she was in pain was a massive understatement. Terra felt as if she had been hit by a truck 10 times over. Her head was pounding so hard it felt liable to explode. As her mind started to catch up she became cognizant enough to comprehend to she was on an extremely comfortable bed. But she couldn't move for some reason. Terra gave herself a few more minutes to get her bearings and figure out where she was. For whatever reason Terra couldn't remember what happened to land her in this situation.

"_Well, I'm not going to find out by keeping my eyes closed_" Terra thought. And with that she slowly opened her eyes. Terra immediately understood, by one glance, that she wasn't in any room of Titans Tower. It was a rather posh hotel room by the looks of it. There was a window by the bed she was on that had its blinds closed. However orange gold sunlight filtered through the blinds, giving Terra the impression it was sunset. The room itself was in semi-darkness and, judging by the silence, she was alone. Terra tried to rise from the bed only to discover why she was unable to move before. Her wrists and ankles were tightly bound by strong ropes. She struggled in vain against the bindings for a minute when she was startled by a voice.

"Don't bother. I tied those knots myself. You won't break free." Terra jumped and turned her head to the right where the voice had issued from. About 5 feet away from her was an armchair and seated in the armchair was a pale boy of about sixteen. Something about him was familiar but Terra couldn't place it. Then in a flash she remembered what had happened prior to her passing out.

"Mumbo! What happened? Where am I?" Terra shouted.

"Easy" the boy assured in a calm voice." You took quite a hit. Don't worry about Mumbo. After he got the drop on you I took care of him. I knocked him out and left him for the other Titans to deal with. You had me worried."

Terra watched stared at the boy who was now watching her with a strange interest. "Where am I" Terra asked after a long pause. "And why do you have me tied up?"

"Unfortunately I can't tell you anything more specific than we are in my hotel room. As for why you're tied up…" the boy grimaced before continuing. "Last night you started thrashing around in your sleep. Some nightmare I'd imagine. After your fit was over I tied you up so you wouldn't hurt yourself if it happened again."

"Well could you untie me? I'm awake now." Terra asked, a bit of irritation creeping into her voice.

The boy smirked. "Sure. Just promise me you won't move around to much. Your body probably hasn't fully recovered."

"I promise" Terra said.

The boy stood and stretched. Then he walked over to the bed and began untying the knots. When he was finished Terra started to stand up when her vision blurred and she fell over. Someone caught her before she hit the floor.

"I'm afraid that would fall into the category of "moving around too much"" the boy said with a hint of amusement. He gently replaced her on the bed. "Wait here" he said and then he walked over to a desk on the other side of the room. He pulled out a bag and opened it. From inside he extracted a large collection of what looked like herbs and plants. He selected a few and began grinding them up and mixing them together. When they were properly mixed he deposited them into a small ceramic bowl that was also in the bag. He then pulled a lighter from his pocket, picked up the bowl, and walked back to her. He put the bowl right under her nose and then put the lighter to the bottom of the bow and lit it. Within seconds strong fumes began rising from the bowl. "Breathe" he commanded. Terra looked at him suspiciously. "If I was going to poison you I would have done it while you slept" he reminded her. Not having the energy to argue with his logic she took a deep breath through her nose. It smelled strong and spicy. Within seconds her vision sharpened and her thoughts clarified. "Feel better? Ryan asked, she had just remembered his name.

"Yeah, what is that stuff?" Terra asked.

"A little of this, a little of that" Ryan replied cheekily. Then a startling thought occurred to Terra.

"Ryan. If I had a fit last night... How long have I been here?" Terra asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Two days" Ryan replied. Then perhaps seeing her look of horror he quickly added "Don't worry I called the other Titans briefly to let them know you were safe. I was going to call them again if you hadn't woken up in a few hours."

"Speaking of calling. Do you have my communicator?" Terra asked. Ryan nodded and produced it from his pocket.

"It won't do you any good though" Ryan stated. He flipped it over and showed her a strange device attached to the back. Seeing her inquiring look he continued; "It's a jamming device I rigged up. It blocks all transmissions to and from the communicator. So the Titans can't trace its location back here."

"Are you some kind of criminal? You're going to great lengths not to be found," Terra observed.

For the first time since she met him Ryan laughed. Terra found something profoundly wrong with the noise. It sounded painful, like it hurt. "No, but that's not a bad guess. I just prefer to fly solo. I've done way too much to consider myself a "good guy". I just try to help when I can."

Now it was Terra's turn to laugh. "What you've done probably doesn't measure up to what I've done. I betrayed my friends and joined an evil mastermind to rule the world. Yet here I am. Maybe all you need is what I got; another chance to do good."

Ryan lapsed into a thoughtful silence after that statement. As the silence stretched longer Terra's thoughts turned, once again, to her friends. "I have to head back to Titans Tower. The others are probably worried about me." Terra stood to illustrate her point. The motion seemed to awaken Ryan from his reverie.

"Alone?" She nodded. "I don't think so. What if you pass out again? You'll fall and all my work will be for nothing. I'm going with you." He stated.

Terra was about to argue when she looked at his expression, one of defiance and determination, and decided it was probably a good idea. Ryan stood and motioned towards the door. "Let's go."

When the duo of Terra and Ryan emerged on the roof Terra had to shield her eyes. Due to the hotel room being kept in semi darkness, per Ryan's preferences, even the dim sunlight seemed very bright. Terra glanced around at her surroundings. As far as she could tell she was on the north side of the city. She could just barely make out the bay and Titans Tower to the south. "_So Far_" Terra thought to herself. She now understood why Ryan insisted on accompanying her, if she had to go that far she doubted her strength would hold. Ryan seemed to know what she was thinking and smiled at her.

"Ready to go?" he asked casually.

"Yeah" she replied. "Just one question; how are we going to get there?"

Ryan gave her a strange look: "Well we fly, of course."

"But!" Terra protested. I don't think I have enough strength to get myself there on a rock platform, let alone both of us."

"That's why I'm flying both of us" Ryan replied as if he were explaining it to an impatient child.

"You can fly?" Terra asked, dumbfounded.

Ryan grinned confidently, "Observe".

Ryan closed his eyes. Suddenly, with a peculiar slithering sound, a black "something" crawled over Ryan's shoulder and covered him from head to toe. The result was the Darkside she had seen before. Though she could no longer see his face, Terra was certain Ryan was grinning at her from underneath his costume at her shock. "Shall we proceed" Ryan asked, his voice strangely distorted.

"Does that suit of yours fly" Terra asked with some apprehension.

"That and more" Ryan replied cryptically. "Now turn around and stay calm" he commanded. Terra sighed but obeyed. After about thirty seconds Ryan's strong arms wrapped, gently but firmly, around her waist. "Relax and don't be afraid" Ryan's distorted voice whispered in her ear. At that moment Terra was thankful that her face was away from Ryan, for he couldn't see the embarrassing shade of red she had turned at the contact. Suddenly she heard a gentle whooshing sound as they began to lift off the roof. With a few easy motions Ryan turned in the direction of Titans Tower and set off. He obviously practiced flying because his movements were slow and effortless. Terra found flying like a rather enjoyable experience for she could look all ways and see the city in all its sunset glory. The flight, while uneventful, took about a half hour. As they approached the Tower they could see the sun sinking below the horizon. Finally they arrived at the Tower roof, which Ryan circled twice before light touching down on concrete. After he released her waist she turned around just in time to catch a black pair of wings about five feet across sinking into Ryan's back. "Well here we are" Ryan commented.

Terra nodded in agreement. "Why don't you come in, it's getting cold out and the others will want to thank you for looking after me." Terra was irritated to hear a strand of hope in her voice. Ryan shuffled from side to side undecidedly for almost five minutes before warily agreeing. As Terra punched in the access code to the roof she heard him sigh. "What's wrong" Terra asked.

Ryan hesitated before answering. "I'm throwing myself off a cliff without knowing how far the fall is" The comment sounded almost self deprecating. Terra couldn't, however, figure out what he meant by it.

Terra smiled to ease his nerves "Ah. But the fallings half the fun". With that the automized door open with a metallic hiss. Ryan took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold.

Raptor: Well what's your opinion? REVIEW AND TELL ME. I'm not a psychic, although that would be cool…


	7. The Interview

Dark Flame- Sorry for the long wait to all my loyal readers. iRedeem. Thanks for all of your support through all of my chapters. I feel like that thank you was long overdue. I hope you, and everyone, enjoys the rest of the story.

Chapter 7: The Interview

Nervousness was not something that typically occurred to Ryan. But as Terra led him through Titan's Tower he found that his insides felt liable to explode due to, using an age old adage, "butterflies in the stomach". And really; who could blame him? Not only was he put into the unfortunate position of having to fight the team of superheroes he was now going to meet, that was bad enough. But if they dug too far into his past they'd find more skeletons than a graveyard.

"_Way to go Ryan, you've done it again_" he found himself thinking.

By doing "it" again he was referring to landing himself into an unwinnable situation. Although, to be fair, he at least had done something redeemable by caring for an unconscious Terra. Now that he thought about it that could just as easily work against him. He couldn't see how but from what he knew about Robin's reputation he was convinced that the bird brain would find a way. Terra at least seemed to trust him; after all she let him into the Tower hadn't she? But he had heard rumors that Robin was so paranoid that he sniffed his morning coffee for poison. Ryan couldn't see how to turn his situation to an advantage at all. He supposed that he just had to grit his teeth and do his best not to look suspicious. Calm confidence, he decided, would serve him best. Changing his expression from thoughtful pondering to blank indifference, Ryan followed Terra towards, what he guessed, was a common room of some sort.

o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

Robin cast a weary look around the common room at his fellow Titans. Starfire sat at the table with her face in her hands. Beast Boy and Cyborg were both on the couch, but neither the T.V. nor the Gamestation was going, both of them had dead expressions on their faces and in their eyes. Raven, of all of them, looked the most normal. She was seated cross-legged in front of the large window that overlooked the bay. But she wasn't levitating or muttering her famous phrase. Her eyes were closed but from this position Robin could see dark circles under her eyes that indicated a profound lack of sleep. They all looked as tired as Robin felt. For two days, going on three, they had scoured the city in search of their lost teammate.

The Titans had just ordered their pizza when they got an urgent call from Terra about a robbery by the Magnificent Mumbo taking place uptown. Then, alarmingly, there had been a loud blast followed by Terra's transmission cutting out. The Titans wasted no time getting to the scene. But they were more than a little perplexed when they got there. Mumbo had been knocked out and expertly tied up for them and there was no sign of Terra anywhere. Witnesses at the scene described a figure all in black defeating Mumbo with ease. It sounded like the Darkside character from the bank earlier that morning. But still; where the heck was Terra? The Titans had combed the entire 20 block radius of the scene but found no trace of the geomancer. In the middle of the search Robin received a call from Terra's communicator, but the voice on the other side was not Terra's. The message was short and infuriatingly cryptic: "I have Terra. She's safe". Needless to say the message did nothing to calm Robin's anxieties. If anything it made them worse. Robin figured that if the guy had Terra's communicator then they could trace the signal. But apparently Darkside was one step ahead of him. Wherever they were it was jamming her communicator. So all the Titans could do was wait and hope Terra came through the door and everything was alright. Fat chance. Robin had been raised a cynic. He just hoped there was enough left of Terra to identify. Suddenly he heard the door hiss open. Robin turned quickly and, at first, thought he was hallucinating. Terra had stepped into the common room. Alive. Tired maybe but alive. She gave Robin a rather wan smile. Then she simply said: "So, miss me?"

At the sound of Terra's voice all of the Titans turned towards her and seemed to have the same spontaneous first thought as Robin. Then they all, excluding Raven, jumped to their feet and rushed over to her. Starfire seemed to be intent on crushing Terra's ribs judging by the hug she was giving. Raven managed to keep her composure but Robin caught a small sigh of relief from her. In all of the joviality, however, everyone had failed to notice that someone had entered the room behind Terra and was now standing of to the side, looking awkwardly at the proceedings. Robin took a good look over him. He was fairly short, about the height of Robin himself. He was very well built with muscles that Robin could see under his shirt. He had dark, brooding grey eyes and fine black hair with red undertones. All of this went well with his handsome, carved face. At the present moment he had a neutral expression on his face.

The jubilation was finally dying down as the other Titans took notice of their mystery guest. All eyes turned towards him. Strangely enough it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. As a matter of fact he seemed perfectly content to just stare right back at them. Robin finally decided to break the silence.

"Terra, where have you been? We were worried sick."

"I don't know the whole story myself Robin." Terra replied "you'll have to ask him." She indicated the stranger.

Robin looked directly into his eyes. "So, who are you?"

The boy stared back for about 10 seconds before breaking into a cheeky grin. "I'm Darkside".

.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

Darkside had been shepherded over to the couch and given a seat. Robin didn't approve of this guy being in his home, but it was convenient. Robin wasn't one to waste opportunities.

"You sure you don't want a drink or something?" Cyborg was asking their "guest".

"I'm fine. Thanks though." Darkside replied

"Before you tell us what happened can I ask you a few questions?" Robin asked.

Darkside waved his hand; "Ask."

Robin was a little startled by his casualness but shook it off. "What is your name?"

"Call me Ryan. That's my real name".

"O.K. Ryan. Where are you from?"

Ryan chuckled humorlessly. "Nowhere important."

Robin scowled at that response but decided not to push it. "Why do you call yourself Darkside? Isn't that a little…. Villainous?"

"Thought it fit." Ryan answered tritely. "Now are we done playing twenty questions? Unless you'd rather not know what happened".

"_He is definitely avoiding the questions_" Robin thought. But he had to know what happened so he put the matter aside.

"Fine tell us what happened." Robin said shortly.

Ryan took a deep breath. "Two days ago, after our little "encounter" at the bank, I was wandering around the city with no particular place to go. I chanced upon that little pizza parlor and decided to get some lunch. I found a tourist guide in the bathroom and was wandering through the shop with my nose in it when I ran into Terra." He grimaced. "Literally. I sent all of the drinks spilling onto the floor. At first I didn't recognize her until I helped her up. Then I saw who she was. I decided to play it cool and be casual. We talked for a few minutes and I told her that my parents and I were on the move a lot and Jump City was our latest stop."

"So where are your parents"? Robin asked.

"Dead" Ryan replied shortly. "Anyway Terra offered to introduce me to the Titans, that is you guys, so I could have some friends. Unfortunately I panicked, made some lame excuse, and took off. Well I walked for a while when I heard a huge explosion. I got into costume and headed towards it at once. I found that clown Mumbo there. We bantered a bit when he suddenly whipped of his hat and shot a cannonball right past me. At first I thought he had bad aim but then I looked and saw the cannonball nail Terra right in the gut. Well that distracted Mumbo long enough for me to get the drop on him and take him out. After I restrained Mumbo I took a look at Terra. She was pretty banged up. The cannonball was bad enough but the fall really hurt her."

"Fall?" Beast Boy asked.

"She was levitating on a rock" Ryan explained "At least a twelve foot drop. I knew I should have waited for you guys but I didn't know the extent of her injuries and my hotel was close by. So I took her to my hotel and patched her up as best I could. But she was still unconscious and I didn't know when she would wake up. So I put her in bed and waited. After a couple hours I decided to let you guys know that she was alright. So I called Robin."

"You say you were just in a hotel but the signal was being jammed." Robin said suspiciously.

Ryan smacked his forehead. "Crap that reminds me. Anyone have a screwdriver?" The seemingly random question threw everybody.

Robin produced one from his belt. "Here."

Ryan accepted it. "Thanks" he said simply. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out Terra's communicator. He flipped it over to reveal a small black box attached to the back. He began tinkering with the box using the screwdriver. After a few minutes he removed the box and handed the communicator back to Terra. Then he returned his gaze to Robin. "I was using this." He said giving Robin the box. Robin examined it.

"Looks like a jamming device." Cyborg, who was looking over Robin's shoulder, noted.

"I rigged it up myself" Ryan said with a touch of pride. "Once I attach it to any electronic device it blocks all transmissions to and from the device."

"Why?" Robin asked.

Ryan smiled grimly. "Call me a loner."

"Some things aren't adding up here Ryan. Like why you panicked at the pizza parlor and why you rigged Terra's communicator. For a superhero you seem awfully shady" Robin said.

Ryan heaved a great sigh. "I admit I wasn't thinking with a clear head. So for that I apologize. I'm just trying to help."

Robin seemed to lapse into deep thought. Raven chose that moment to speak up. "Robin he's been telling the truth this whole time. He's hiding things, but then so did I".

Robin was surprised to hear Raven come to the defense of an almost complete stranger. But Raven was an empath; if he was lying she would know. Then Robin had an idea. "Ryan, how would you like to be a Titan?"

.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.

Ryan blinked. "_Well that one came out of left field_" he thought. Strangely enough he found himself considering the offer. He knew that he really shouldn't stay in one place for too long…. But still. Being accepted was something that had not happened to him in a long time. It felt almost…Comforting. What got him was that it was Robin, of all people, who offered him the opportunity. This was highly out of character from what he understood of the Boy Wonder. Almost as if…ah. Ryan turned his gaze to Starfire, to whom Robin had been giving secret glances all throughout Ryan's entire narrative. It seemed that crime fighting was not the only thing dear to Robin's heart. "_Love can do strange things_" Ryan mused. But back to the quandary at hand. To agree or not to agree that was the question. After a long period of thought Ryan decided that it was time for a break from the whole lone wolf traveler routine.

"Sure. I'd like that" Ryan hadn't intended to add that last bit, it just slipped out. "Can I go get my things?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dark-Flame: Whew. Longest chapter to date. Read. Review. And don't forget to tune in and see how Ryan fits in with the Titans.


	8. Trial Period

Dark-Flame: So here's chapter 8 after a long wait. It's been bothering me for a while so I decided to type it up in my Forensic Science class.

Chapter 8: Trial Period

Soon after Ryan's departure from Titans Tower to collect his things Robin had a quick talk with the other Titans.

"Look I don't trust Darkside." Then spying the look on Terra's face he continued; "I know he watched out for you Terra but I want to know what he's all about. For the next week I want all of you to keep an eye on Ryan. Then at the end of the week report back to me about what you find. You guys don't have to follow him all over the place; just observe his behavior."

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

A week seemed to come and go like the wind. There was very little villain activity which suited Robin just fine. At the end of the week, as ordered, the Titans minus Ryan had an impromptu meeting in Robin's room. They all sat in a circle around Robin's bed except for Starfire, who Robin insisted to sit on the bed. Robin began the discussion.

"Alright guys you know why you're here so… Raven you start."

Raven lapsed into thoughtful silence for a moment before beginning her story…

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

Raven was fairly miffed to say the least. One of her books had "mysteriously" disappeared again. And she was certain green skinned elf was the source of the mystery. She figured she would find the little baboon in the common room binging on a video game of some kind. But upon entering the common room she discovered it was empty save a lone figure sitting at the table who was conspicuously not Beast Boy. Mostly due to the fact he was reading a book. Her book. Damn.

She approached the table with the most irritated expression she could muster. Recognizing it as their newest team member she intended to give him a piece of her mind.

"Ryan, where did you get that book?" Raven asked coldly. Ryan didn't look up but casually pointed to the arm of the couch behind him. Raven felt gob smacked. She had just remembered that she had left the book there the night before. Ryan, with his nose still in the book spoke for the first time.

"I figured this book was yours when I found it. I was going to bring it to you but decided to take a peek inside. I haven't read some of this for a long time."

"You read Poe?" Raven found herself asking. The book was a collection of some of Poe's best known stories and poems. Ryan finally looked up at her, smiling strangely. He then looked up at the ceiling, closed his eyes, and began reciting in a distant voice:

"It was a many and many year ago in a kingdom by the sea that a maiden lived there that you may know by the name of Annabel Lee. And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me."

Before she could stop herself, Raven automatically spoke. "I was a child and she was a child, in this kingdom by the sea. But we loved with a love that was more than love, I and my Annabel Lee. With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven coveted her and me."

Raven, to her mild surprise, continued reciting the poem with Ryan. Their voices continued to grow quieter and quieter until Ryan spoke the last lines in almost a whisper. "And so, all the night tide, I lie down by the side of my darling-my darling- my life and my bride, in her sepulcher there by the sea, in her tomb by the surrounding sea."

Ryan gave Raven a small smile as he wordlessly handed her the book. Raven continued to stare at him as he stood up and began to walk out of the room. Raven only found her voice as he was about to exit. "Don't expect me to be so forgiving next time" she said with an impressive deadpan.

Ryan seemed to find her comment funny as he started to chuckle. He stopped just over the threshold of the door and looked over his shoulder at her. He simply said: "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore."

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

Raven lapsed into silence at the conclusion of her story. Robin nodded at her in thanks then looked around. "Let's see…. Starfire, your next."

Starfire looked pleasantly surprised: "Well…"

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

Starfire hummed idly to herself as she soared around the kitchen. She was trying finding more ingredients to make her home planets "Cake of Celebration" to commemorate the arrival of their newest friend. She had lost track long ago of what all she had put in the batter. So now it resembled something akin to recently mixed cement. Starfire happened to glance up and see none other than Ryan standing by the counter, watching her curiously.

"Friend Ryan." Starfire said warmly "Would you like to try some of my planets cooking?" Being new in the tower and not knowing the dangers of Starfire's cooking, Ryan nodded and joined her in front of the bowl. He cocked his head inquisitively at Starfire, who was now trying to get some of the "mix" onto a spoon. A difficult task, due to the fact that it not only looked like cement but had apparently acquired cements viscosity. After a great deal of strain she finally managed to extract some of the substance and proffered it to Ryan. For the first time Ryan looked somewhat apprehensively at the spoon in his hand, which seemed to be bending under the mass of the mix. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and quickly put the spoon in his mouth. Starfire watched him eagerly as he sloshed the "food" around his mouth and swallowed. Ryan finally opened his eyes and saw Starfire looking expectantly at him.

"Well it looks worse than it is" Ryan said with a relieved sigh. Then his grey eyes lit up, as if hit by a sudden inspiration. "Star," he asked "do you want the others to enjoy this?"

"Of course friend Ryan." Starfire said. Then Ryan smiled at her.

"Than clear out this and start fresh" Ryan said promptly. "And do exactly as I tell you…"

_Later that day…_

"Star… this cake is amazing!" Robin exclaimed. Not only did Starfire manage a regular chocolate cake but it was perfect. She had achieved the perfect balance of moistness and firmness. "How did you do it?" Starfire blushed at the compliment.

"I had some help." Starfire said simply. And then, unnoticed by Robin, she glanced over to the corner in which Ryan was sitting quietly eating his cake with a large smile on his face.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

"_Well that would certainly explain the normalness of the cake." _Robin thought, slightly amused. He glanced around vaguely for a moment. "Alright Cyborg, you're up".

Cyborg quietly considered it before launching into his narrative.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

"Ahhhh. Come on man!" Cyborg yelled in frustration. He had been trying to stabilize the Tower's security systems for over four hours but was having no luck in getting the problem sorted. Like any computer the Tower was automated and was prone to "little glitches" every now and then. But now this little glitch was turning into a huge problem. If Cyborg didn't get this fixed soon the whole security system might go completely haywire. But so far all Cyborg had been able to do was isolate the problem into his room's computer.

"Are you o.k. Cyborg? I heard yelling." Ryan's voice said behind him. Looking at the computer screen Ryan offered Cyborg a sympathetic smile. "Still no joy with the security systems, huh?"

Cyborg shook his head ponderously. "You have no idea. I was able to contain it into my room, but I can't get a read on it. The little bugger keeps jumping from file to file; every time I find it it'll just move somewhere else." Cyborg said sadly.

"Maybe I can help." Ryan offered. "Mind if I take a crack at it?"

Cyborg thought about it for a moment. It would hurt his pride to concede this battle. But on the other hand he was tired and needed a break. "Sure." Cyborg said finally.

Ryan took Cyborg's vacated seat in front of the terminal and started to input commands. After about a half hour Ryan sat up in his seat. "I found the problem." He announced. Cyborg rushed over, half disbelieving. Ryan pointed to the screen. "This isn't a computer glitch we're dealing with; it looks like you caught herpes." Cyborg stared at Ryan, completely nonplussed. "A virus." Ryan supplied, spying the look on Cyborg's face. "But it's not like other viruses, it's subtle, masquerading as something else and diverting our attention from the real problem."

"What's the real problem?" Cyborg asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"Well we're in luck there." Ryan said. "It's been so busy fighting us off that it hasn't gotten a chance to do whatever it's supposed to be doing. I don't know about you but I'd like to keep it that way. It's going to take both of us to get rid of this thing."

"How do we get rid of it?" Cyborg asked.

"It'll be tricky." Ryan replied. "This isn't any amateur virus. This one is well built. I think what I'm going to do is construct a fake virtual hard drive. Hopefully the virus will take the bait and fall into the trap. When that happens that will be your opportunity to dismantle it."

"Okay sounds good. Let me get on the other terminal." Cyborg said. About twenty minutes later Cyborg piped up; "Okay Ryan all set".

Ryan nodded absently. "Uploading the virtual hard drive….. Now". Ryan and Cyborg watched their respective screens intently, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly Ryan jumped out of his seat. "Yes! It took the bait and now it's trapped! Cyborg dismantle it by code now!"

Cyborg furiously typed at his terminal for about a minute when he got a readout. It had worked; there was no trace of the virus anywhere. He ran a diagnostic to be sure and it came up clean. Cyborg leaned back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Ryan who looked just as tired and asked; "How about some doughnuts?"

Ryan laughed. "Sounds great".

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

Robin nodded in understanding. He then turned his attention to Beast Boy and motioned for his observations.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.

Beast Boy had heard the term "dying of boredom" before but he never though it was actually possible. But now, sprawled out on the couch, he was reevaluating and had to admit that it was highly likely that he would be dead in a few minutes. He knew he was done for when he started whishing for a villain attack. Everyone was either out of the Tower or just not in the living room where they were **desperately** needed. And when the living room door hissed open, as if some god were granting his wish, Beast Boy practically jumped out of his seat. His excited emerald eyes beheld the newest member of the Teen Titans family, Darkside. "Hey Ryan, watcha doing?" Beast Boy asked the somewhat startled boy.

"Oh hi Beast Boy." Ryan said in that careful, neutral voice of his. "I can't really find anything to do with myself so here I am. I'm kinda bored." He added.

That was music to Beast Boy's ears. "Hey I'm bored to. Wanna play a video game with me?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.

Ryan looked surprised. "Uhh... Sure." Ryan replied. "You'll probably win though I'm a little rusty on my video gaming."

"Here pick a game." Beast Boy offered, opening up the game cupboard.

"Wow. Nice collection." Ryan said eyeing the games appreciatively. He browsed the games for a couple of minutes before finally settling on one. "This one." He said handing Beast Boy the case. Glancing down Beast Boy saw he had picked "Soul Calibur IV".

"Dude! You had to pick the one I haven't touched in months?" Beast Boy exclaimed. But nonetheless he inserted the disc into the drive. "SOUL CALIBUR 4" The game announced when they reached the title screen. Beast Boy scrolled to multiplayer then to versus. The character selection screen popped up displaying the 30 or so different characters. Beast Boy immediately picked his old favorite and best character, Cervantes. Ryan took a little longer with his decision. He finally decided on Taki. Beast Boy laughed out loud while the match loaded; "Come on. Do ya really think that wussie ninja chick can beat my kick butt undead pirate?"

Ryan laughed too. "I guess we'll find out."

_Later_

Beast Boy couldn't believe his eyes. "You beat me?" He said in shock. "No way dude I want a rematch!"

Ryan smiled at the challenge. "Fine you're on." He said simply.

It took ten "rematches" before Beast Boy finally admitted defeat. He was still in shock. He had thought he had the final round. They were tied at one round apiece with nearly identical health. Unfortunately Beast Boy had gone on the defensive a little too much. It had drained his Soul Gage. Ryan capitalized on his blunder and preformed a Critical Finish.

Ryan stood and stretched his sore muscles. He smiled at Beast Boy and said; "Thanks for playing with me."

Beast Boy barely had the presence of mind to nod.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.

"Thanks Beast Boy" Robin said. "Alright Terra you're the last one. Do you have anything?"

Terra considered the question and almost said no. In truth she had a story just like the others but it had been a personal encounter and she wasn't sure if she wanted to share it. _"But they're your friends"_ she thought to herself. She couldn't keep anything from them. Not anymore. Terra took a deep breath to steady her nerves then began her tale.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x

Terra bolted up in bed feeling sick to her stomach. In her head she could still hear Slade's voice taunting her, telling her that she was still his apprentice and that her friends, no matter what they said, despised and mistrusted her. It was a recurring nightmare she still had from time to time. But it never became easier to experience. It always reminded her of how close she had come to annihilating not only the city but the only people who had ever been decent to her. Her only friends. Deciding that sitting in bed and brooding about it would only make things worse she got up and pulled on her clothes from the previous day. Terra glanced at her clock before exiting her room. It read 2:00 am. Figuring not even the insomniac Boy Wonder was awake she decided to take a small stroll around the Tower before returning to bed. Walking always helped her clear her head. As she prowled the hallways with no particular place to go she was stopped by a strange echoing noise that seemed to be coming from… above her? Terra listened closer but was only able to confirm that it was coming from above her. _"What's on the roof at this hour?" _Terra wondered to herself before deciding to check it out. As she climbed the staircase that led to the roof the noise became clearer. _"Sounds like a…flute." _As she opened the door and stepped outside she was hit with a blast of cold air. It was a clear night so the half moon shone brilliantly illuminating the entire rooftop. And sitting at the edge of the Tower with his legs dangling over the side was none other than Ryan. He was holding a wooden flute to his lips and softly blowing into it. It produced a sad haunting melody that spoke of pain that hadn't fully healed yet.

Quite suddenly the music stopped. "Couldn't sleep?" Ryan's voice said quietly. He turned and faced her with a soft smile on his lips. He beckoned to Terra to sit beside him. She did.

"Yeah. Same for you?" Terra inquired, covertly admiring the way his grey eyes glinted in the moonlight.

Ryan gave a tired chuckle and laid the flute across his lap. "Yep. Sometimes I can't sleep as much as I would like to. Sorry if I woke you."

Terra shook her head. "I was already awake." There was a brief pause in which they both admired the sparkling bay far below them. "You play beautifully." Terra finally said.

Terra could have sworn Ryan turned a slight shade of red at the compliment. "Thanks. It's not often there are other people around to hear it."

Terra pointed to the flute. "Where did you get it and where did you learn to play?" Terra asked curiously.

Ryan held up the flute. "This thing? I whittled it myself. As for where I learned to play…" Ryan hesitated before continuing. "When I was little my father used to play the flute to put me to sleep. And sometimes, if the power was out him, my mother, and I would light candles, sit in the living room, and he would play for us. To pass the time, you know?" Terra nodded. Ryan had never before spoken about his past and tended to avoid questions about it in general. So, although she was curious, she refrained from asking about it. Ryan continued. "I guess I picked up the basics from him and then just kind of went from there." Ryan veered off.

"Would you play something for me?" Terra asked him.

Ryan smiled. "Sure. You have any requests?" Terra shook her head. Ryan shrugged, raised the flute to his lips, and began playing. The music was soft and sweet. It gave Terra a good feeling. It wasn't that the music was overly happy, but it had a reassuring undertone. Like everything was going to be alright. Suddenly she wondered if Ryan knew more about why she was awake than he was letting on. Ryan finished the tune and turned to her, as if asking her opinion.

Terra beamed at him. "It was wonderful." She said honestly. Ryan turned about five shades of red at her words and looked down in embarrassment.

Then he looked up at her, still slightly red, and said; "You know; you really should smile like that more often. You look really pretty…" Ryan suddenly stopped. Terra was glad he did because she could probably fry an egg on her face right about now. They both turned their attention back to the sky to alleviate their embarrassment. There was no need to break the companionable silence that set in. Terra had one final thought; _"Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words."_

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

As Terra ended her story she was inwardly relieved that she chose to cut the story off at Ryan playing for her. After all there was no need to tell them _everything_ that happened.

Robin gave her a nod in thanks. But before he could say anything more Ryan's voice broke over the Tower intercom. "Guys I think you should get to the Command Center ASAP. You might want to see this.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

The Titans made a beeline for the command center where they found Ryan waiting for them. "Report Ryan. What's the situation?" Robin asked.

Ryan pointed to the large screen behind them. "You have a call, Robin." Robin was a little confused.

"If it's my call why did you bring everyone here?" Robin inquired.

"You'll see. I have a bad feeling about it." Ryan said solemnly. Robin took that as a bad sign. Ryan was normally a serious individual and if he looked this tense then something must be majorly wrong.

Robin walked to the console and pressed the flashing button for line 1. "This is Robin. Who is this?"

Suddenly a face appeared on the screen and all of Robin's questions were answered. "I'm hurt Robin. How can you forget me after all of our time together?"

It was that face that kept Robin awake at night and it was that voice that turned Terra's blood ice cold and haunted her worst nightmares. The figure on the screen wore his usual black and silver combat armor. His mask covered his face save for his left eye that stared out cold, calculating, and mocking all at once. His voice showed no emotion save for contempt. A voice that hadn't broke upon Robin's ear for over a year. Robin put all his hatred for the man in front of him into one word: "Slade."

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

Whew what a monster this turned out to be. Sorry about the cliffhanger but if I type anymore today my hands will fall off. Read and review please. Pretty please?


	9. The Chronas Connection

Dark-Flame- Before I get this chapter moving I'd like to say something first. The past 8 chapters have been what I'm going to refer to as the calm before the storm. With this chapter we are going to get into the barebones of the story. And if my plans shape out (which they should) it's going to get crazy. Things are going to get complicated kind of quickly. I'm going to start dropping little hints about what's going to happen at the climax (Actually, to be completely honest, I've been sneaking in hints about it the whole story. No, I'm not going to tell you where ;). See if you can spot them yourselves.) Hopefully I can surprise you guys a little. So with that out of the way let's get to it. Buckle up and hang on because it's going to be a wild ride.

Chapter 9: The Chronas Connection

"Why Robin, is that all you have to say to me after a year apart? I'm hurt." Slade said, his voice condescending as ever. Robin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask. He was so not in the mood for this right now. The seven Titan's all stood around the screen; fixing it with stony glares all the while. If looks could kill Slade would probably have his existence wiped of the face of the known universe.

And Slade looked like he could care less. "The other Titans too? How nice to see you all again." Slade said casting a glance around the room. His gaze fell on Terra. "Well, well. The rumors were true. Terra is back among the ranks of the Titans. Good to see you've lightened up a little my dear. You were so stiff for a while there…"

Terra flushed red from anger and embarrassment. "Piss off Slade!" She yelled at him.

"Language Terra, really." Slade said indifferently. "And Robin, I thought you were more intelligent than to let a proven traitor back into your Tower. But I suppose that is your prerogative." Slade drawled. Before Terra or Robin could retort Slade turned his attention to the seventh Titan. "That explains why I didn't recognize the voice. So this is the new boy? I'm not impressed." Ryan narrowed his eyes but otherwise didn't respond.

Robin decided he'd had enough. "What do you want Slade?" he spat.

Slade looked amused. "You never did learn patience did you Robin? But I suppose since you asked I can get around to the reason I called you." Slade took one more look around the room, relishing in the Titans suspense before continuing; "I thought I should, as a matter of courtesy, inform you that your precious city is about to become the worlds largest parking lot."

There was a stunned silence that followed these words. "What did you say?" Robin croaked.

"Confused Robin?" Slade asked smugly. Then, without waiting for a response, he plowed on; "Allow me to enlighten you. I've taken the liberty of placing four E-O bombs all over the city and in just two hours the bombs will detonate, completely eradicating this city and every life in it."

A twitch had developed underneath Robin's mask. "You're insane!" he shouted. "E-O bombs would kill you just as surely as anybody else. Where did you hide them?"

Slade chuckled. "Now Robin, why would I spoil the surprise? You're a clever boy. You figure it out. Suffice to say that the bombs location will ensure maximum damage. So with that in mind I really must be going. I'm sure you have more pressing concerns than bantering with me, hmmm? Goodbye Titans, and remember, the clock is ticking." And with that the connection promptly terminated.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

Robin turned to face his teammates. "You heard him guys. We have to find those bombs. Spread out and comb the entire city."

Cyborg shook his head. "Robin those bombs could be anywhere. Unless we know where to look they could detonate before we even find one."

Robin slammed his fist on the keyboard of the computer. "So we just do nothing? We let Slade destroy the city!" he yelled.

Cyborg raised his voice as well. "I didn't say that! All I'm saying is that we need a way to track those bombs."

"Ask and you shall receive, my friend." Said a voice to Robin's right. Turning, Robin saw that Ryan had logged onto another computer terminal. "I think that I can find the bombs from right here."

"You can?" Terra asked disbelievingly.

Ryan nodded without turning around. "We have the proper equipment. All we have to do is find the trace and, ironically enough, Slade gave it to us."

"What do you mean Friend Ryan?" Starfire asked

"When Slade told us about his plan he mentioned something that he really should have kept to himself; he told us the kind of bomb he was using. And it's that information that will allow us to track the bombs." Ryan replied.

"I still don't get it. How does knowing the name of the bomb help us?" Raven said.

"Do you guys know what makes an E-O bomb so destructive?" Ryan asked. The Titans shook their heads. "A lot of people think that it is something to do with the core, but that's just speculation. The truth is most people have no idea how an E-O bomb even works because it leaves nothing behind. It's that characteristic that makes an E-O bomb so appealing to assassins and militant groups because there is no trace of the device left. The reason that there is no trace is because of a very rare alloy used in its construction called Chronas."

"What's Chronas? I've never heard of it." Robin stated.

"Chronas is a very unique metal. When the temperature is cold it's nearly indestructible. But if it gets too hot it sublimates."

"Subli-whats?" Beast Boy asked with a lost look in his eyes.

"I'll get into details later but to give you the general idea, it's when a solid transforms directly into a gas. Imagine if you put an ice cube on the counter and let it sit there. Normally the ice cube melts into water and then if you continue to leave it the water will evaporate into water vapor right? But with chronas it's like the ice cube instantly becomes water vapor, it just disappears." Ryan brought up a diagram on the screen. "In an E-O bomb the entire device is made of chronas. An E-O bomb doesn't detonate right away. When the trigger goes it starts a chain reaction inside the casing and the reaction keeps building. When the reaction gets hot enough the entire chronas casing sublimates. That's when the shockwave is released. And since no energy was exerted to escape the casing the explosion can travel uninhibited for some distance."

Robin was starting to get impatient. "That's really fascinating Ryan but how does this help us?"

"Here's the kicker. Chronas is not natural to this area of the United States. So all we have to do is scan for Chronas sources in a localized area and…" Almost at that exact moment four red blips appeared on the screen. Robin's jaw dropped. "There are your bombs. One at the skyscraper under construction in Midtown, one in the subway tunnels, one at the high school on the Westside, and the last one is underneath City Hall." Ryan said with a relieved smile.

Robin shook his head then barked: "Alright Titans let's move, Beast Boy take the subway tunnels, Cyborg you have City Hall, Raven the skyscraper, and Starfire you take the high school."

"Hold on Robin. I'm not done yet." Ryan said swiftly. "Downloading instructions to disarming E-O bombs to the Titan communicators… now. And I think I can find Slade's base."

Robin was starting to become impressed. "You can find his base?"

"Provided he built the bombs there." Ryan replied continuing the scan. A short second later a fifth red blip appeared on the map. "Got it! Looks like his base is at the old amusement park."

"Alright then. Terra and Darkside, you guys are coming with me to get Slade. The rest of you; when you've disarmed the bombs rendezvous with us at Slade's hideout. Titans GO!"

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

The Titans all ran for the door. Because Robin was taking his motorcycle he was headed down to the garage. Meanwhile Terra and Darkside were heading for the roof so they could fly (or in Terra's case take a rock platform). As the pair sprinted down the hallway leading to the roof Terra turned to Ryan. "That was pretty cool Ryan." She said.

Ryan turned his eyes to her as his suit covered him. "Thanks." He replied in his distorted voice. "Let's hope this works. By the way I got the impression that you and Slade were… familiar with each other."

Terra shrugged, an awkward motion considering they were now climbing the stairs that led to the roof. "Remember that evil mastermind I mentioned? That's him. There was a time when I couldn't control my powers and it had consequences. Everywhere I went I tried to be a hero but I would accidentally cause earthquakes and mudslides because I couldn't stop myself. Slade offered to teach me control in exchange for being his apprentice. And I was so scared, angry, and alone that I accepted." Terra had never revealed so much about her feelings and motivations to someone before. She felt slightly embarrassed.

"Don't worry it's all in the past." Ryan said simply as they emerged on the roof.

_Maybe _Terra thought to herself.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o

This chapter was originally intended to be longer but I decided to cut it into to two parts. So stay tuned to see what happens with Slade. Review please.

P.S. Do you guys think I got Slade right? I was a little apprehensive about typing his part because Deathstroke/Slade is my favorite comic character and I wanted to get him just right. So tell me that in your reviews as well.


	10. Every Dark Corner

Dark-Flame: Sorry its taken so long to get this up. I just moved and I haven't gotten completely situated just yet. For gods sake I'm typing this on my Ipod. And it sucks.

Chapter 10: Every Dark Corner

Darkside was the first to touch down in the abandoned carnival. He cast a critical look at his surroundings, the merry go round had started tipping to the left, giving it a lopsided appearance. The ferris wheel, judging by the rotting wood, was about to collapse under its own weight, while the empty contest booths had a cold, unfriendly atmosphere. This was once a place of laughter and enjoyment for the citizens of Jump City. Now it sat; a wound that was left to fester and decay. The company that ran the fair didn't even bother to clean up.

Darkside shook his head sadly. Just that moment; Terra's rock platform touched down a few feet away. She dusted herself off and joined Ryan's side, staring contemplatively at the ruins. Not a word was spoken between the pair until the steadily increasing crescendo of Robin's motorcycle startled them out of their musings. Sure enough, a few seconds later, headlights bathed them in light as the vehicle rumbled to a stop. In one swift motion Robin hopped off his motorcycle and removed his helmet.

"I just got off the link with Cyborg and from what I've been told the others have reached their targets and have evacuated the civilians. With any luck soon the bombs will be disarmed and they'll join us here soon." Robin explained tersely. He looked exhausted and they hadn't even started yet.

"Then we should focus on finding Slade's base before they get here." Terra replied.

In response, Ryan opened his communicator and inputted a few commands. Suddenly a steady stream of beeps came from the device. "This way." he said simply and began walking.

Robin jogged to his side. "Are you scanning for Chronas?" he asked.

Ryan nodded absently. " Yeah. Chronas molecules are irradiated and tend to stick around for a while." The beeps started getting louder. "We're getting close..." Ryan murmured. Then the communicator began letting out high pitched whistles. Darkside stopped in his tracks. "The base is directly below us." he announced. However Terra and Robin's attention was focused on the building in front of them. The sign had fallen long ago but it was still legible: HOUSE OF MIRRORS.

Ryan noticed their expressions. "Did I miss something?" he asked. Robin looked like he wanted to talk but he stopped himself and looked at Terra questioningly.

"It's fine Robin." Terra assured. "This was where I betrayed the Titans and joined Slade. Leave it to him to drag us back here." she said quietly. Due to his face being covered, Ryan's expression was impossible to discern. However he spoke his next words rather gently; "I think the entrance to Slade's base is inside. Do you want to go in?"

Terra didn't hesitate: "Of course."

x.o.x.o.x.o.

Robin, Terra, and Darkside found themselves in a circular room surrounded by mirrors and immediately could tell something was off. "All of these mirrors were destroyed by Beast Boy when he fought Slade." Terra remarked. "So where did these new ones come from?"

"The carnival must have replaced them before it shut down." Robin answered.

Darkside spoke up: "I don't think so." he said, stopping in front of one of said mirrors. "Look at my reflection."

Robin glanced up. "You look normal to me." he said simply.

"Exactly my point Robin. If the carnival had replaced the mirrors; why isn't my reflection distorted? These are normal mirrors, not funhouse mirrors. Meaning someone apart from carnival staff put these up and under the circumstances I think we know who that someone is."

"Slade." Robin stated. Then he jumped up, as if hit with a sudden inspiration. He went to the outermost mirror in the circle and rapped his knuckles sharply on the glass. When nothing happened he moved to next mirror in line. He continued around the room in this fashion until...

His knock echoed behind the glass. Robin attached a time bomb to the pane and retreated some distance back. The small bomb exploded sending pieces of glass scattering down the secret tunnel the mirror had hidden. Robin flipped open his communicator: "Titans, we've found Slade's base. The house of mirrors, fifth mirror from the left. We're going in."

"Roger." Raven's voice responded.

Shutting his communicator Robin turned to Terra and Darkside. "Alright guys let's catch us a psychopath." Returning his attention to the tunnel Robin pulled a small flashlight from his belt. He clicked it on and led the way into the narrow passage. The tunnel steeply descended into total darkness.

After walking for a time the trio came, to Robin's great dismay,to a fork in the path. "Looks like we have to split up. I'll take the path on the left, Terra and Darkside you guys take the path on the right." Robin took two more flashlights from his belt and handed them to his friends. "Stay in touch guys, good luck." With that the Boy Wonder turned and walked briskly down the path he had chosen for himself.

Terra and Darkside went to the opposite path and began heading down it. Both of them clicked on their flashlight as they went. The tunnel went deeper into the bowels of the earth. Ryan finally spoke after a long while. "We must be miles under the city by now. No wonder Slade wasn't worried about the bombs. At this depth they probably wouldn't get near him."

Terra squinted down into the darkness. "Can you see anything?" she asked her companion.

"Rock. Lots and lots of rock." Ryan answered dryly.

Terra giggled and punched him playfully in the shoulder. "That's cute." she teased. You know if being a superhero doesn't work out you could always find work as comedian. Then again I'm not sure the crowd could put up with you!"

Ryan dramatically clutched his chest. "Ah Terra. You wound me!" he said with as much sarcasm as he could muster( which was really quite a lot). The two teens laughed until Darkside promptly collided with something hard with a resounding thud. His flashlight clattered to the ground and went out.

"Oww. Damnit!" Ryan cursed. Rubbing his face, he looked up sourly at the obstruction at which Terra had turned her light. As it turned out Ryan had run into a pair of large steel doors at least twelve feet tall. Terra and Ryan stared at the door for about ten seconds before Terra pulled out her communicator and dialed Robin's frequency.

"Robin here. Status report." Robin's voice cut briskly through the silence.

"This is Terra. Ryan and I found the main entrance to Slade's base. We're headed in."

"Understood. I'm going to backtrack to try and catch up to you. Be careful guys." With that Robin ended the transmission.

Ryan had gotten to his feet and was now examining the door carefully. "This is strong steel but I think I can break it down." he muttered.

"We're just barging in?" Terra asked.

"I don't know about you but I think that Slade already knows we're here. That being the case I also think that the time for subtlety is long past. Our intentions are clear enough and sneaking around would do very little for us at this point." Ryan replied.

Terra nodded in understanding. "I'd help you bust this door down but I'm afraid that I'll bring the tunnel down around us."

Darkside shrugged. " No worries. Stand back." he said. Terra did so as Darkside faced the doors. After a moments silence, the two upper tendrils on his back thickened to the size of medium sized tree trunks. He began smashing them into the doors like giant whips. Each time they created an earsplitting crash as matter and steel collided. It was slow work, the thick doors offered a great deal of resistance; but eventually the strain began to show as the impressions left behind grew and grew. Finally the doors began to cave in. Seizing his opportunity, Ryan leaped into the air and landed on the damaged doors; clinging to them like an insect. With a yell, Ryan laced his fingers together and brought his hands down on the doors like a hammer. The injured doors finally gave way; and collapsed inward with a screeching groan, sending a cloud of smoke into the air that obscured Ryan's figure.

Terra was far enough back so that the smoke didn't quite reach her. Her blue eyes scanned the smoke, looking for Darkside. Her patience was rewarded when she saw his black form moving towards her, coughing and waving his hands.

"Ugh." Ryan groaned indignantly." Doesn't Slade ever dust around here?" asked brushing the residue off his body disdainfully.

Terra chuckled. "I don't think that housekeeping is very high on Slade's priority list. Come on we should keep moving."

The duo continued down the tunnel past the doors with Ryan still grumbling quietly.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

The tunnel continued to descend into darkness. The sound if Ryan's communicator cut through the gloom. He flipped it open to reveal Robin's face. "The others have contacted me and reported that all the bombs have been disarmed. They're on their way to rendezvous with us now. What is your guy's status?"

"We've got to be getting close now. We just broke through a pair of doors so they have to go somewhere." Ryan answer

"I'm still a ways back from you guys so keep pressing forward. Slade's down here somewhere." Robin ordered.

Ryan nodded. "Got it. Over and out."

Ryan looked around. There wasn't much to see as Terra's flashlight had become the only source of light they had. Ryan could see a small light further down they way. They hurried towards it, but as they reached it Ryan's heart sank. Another fork in the path.

"Spectacular." Ryan muttered, his eyes scanning both ways. Suddenly he caught a flash of movement down the left tunnel. Just like that it was gone, disappeared into the darkness. "I saw something down this way." Ryan said pointing down the offending tunnel.

Terra nodded swiftly. "Let's check it out."

The tunnel was remarkably short, at least compared to the other tunnels in this labyrinth, and when it came out both Terra and Darkside gasped. They had emerged into a kind of pyramid shaped cavern. Very high above them was a opening that moonlight filtered through, letting a single beam reach the floor.

Ryan's quiet voice suddenly sounded out. "Terra, head back and take the other path. I can handle this. I'll catch up with you shortly."

Terra glanced at him. "Are you sure?"

Ryan nodded. "Oh yes."

Terra put a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful." she whispered. Then she turned and headed back down the tunnel.

Darkside waited for her to be gone before he raised his voice again. "Just you and me now Tarvis. I recognized you as soon as as I saw you in the tunnel."

In response a figure removed itself from the shadows and stood on the other side of the moonbeam, not quite stepping into the light. Ryan could tell that Tarvis had changed very little since the last time they had stood face to face. A tall and imposing African American man, with a scar over his left eye. He wore a set of silver armor that covered his burly chest but left his muscular arms exposed. Tarvis's face twisted into a smirk.

"Well well... The little Vanders boy all grown up" Tarvis said mockingly. "I'd hoped that I would get you all to myself. Get some payback for this." he said, gesturing to his eye.

Darkside snorted derisively. "Your lucky that's all I did. I thought your boss kept his running pet on a short leash?"

Tarvis's smirk widened. "I'm here on a special assignment. Making sure this alliance works smoothly."

"You guys cut a deal with Slade!? Your dumber than I thought. There's no way he'll keep this up. Once Slade has what he wants he'll turn on you!" Ryan exclaimed.

"Oh we are perfectly aware of that. However the fringe benefits are quite enjoyable. I can finally complete the Vanders family set." Tarvis said with relish. As he said this he reached into his belt and drew out a seven inch combat knife. "Well lookie here. This little thing brings back some fond memories don't it?" Ryan's fist clenched but he didn't respond. Tarvis noticed the reaction and continued nonchalantly. "Your father really liked it as I recall. As a matter of fact he got a big smile from it. Ear. To. Ear. And your moms? Well she thought it was just to die for. Of course that was after I found out she was a real stone fox if you get my drift."

With that last comment Tarvis had found Ryan's breaking point. With a raw yell he charge the man, bent on tearing him limb from worthless limb. Aiming a punch at Tarvis's face, Ryan was shocked when he sidestepped his punch effortlessly. Tarvis grabbed Ryan's outstretched arm and sank his own massive fist into the boy's gut. Ryan gasped out in pain and fell to his knees. Ryan felt a massive hand lift him by the neck and suddenly he found Tarvis's face inches from his own.

"Time to have some fun." Tarvis said simply. Then his giant fist headed straight for Ryan's face.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

Terra had just gotten back to the fork when, alarmingly, there was a loud scream from where she had just come from. "Ryan!" she shouted. And without a seconds hesitation ran back down the tunnel. As she reemerged into the cavern her heart nearly stopped. Ryan lay on the ground obviously beaten and completely alone. She rushed to his side and turned him on his back. "Ryan!" she shook him urgently. He groaned in response and look blearily up at her.

"You...have to leave." Ryan whispered. "He'll kill you too..."

Terra was confused. "Who'll kill me? We're alone here Ryan."

Darkside was about to answer when he focused on some point over her left shoulder. "Stay away from her!" he shouted suddenly, startling Terra. "Stay back Tarvis or so help me god I'll take take your eye instead of just giving you a scar." Terra turned to see that Ryan was shouting at a stalagmite.

Terra was starting to become concerned. "Ryan there's nobody here." she said gently trying to calm him down.

And Ryan was having none of it. "Like hell! He's right there!" pointing wildly at the cave wall. Terra's communicator sounded off at that precise moment.

"This is Robin have you guys found Slade yet?"

Terra flipped open her communicator. "Not yet. We have a bit of a problem." Terra cast a glance at Ryan who at this stage was in complete hysterics. Shouting and ranting at the top of his lungs.

"What kind of problem?" Robin asked.

"It's Darkside." Terra said urgently. "He's completely flipped out. Seeing things that aren't there and shouting nonsense. He's been acting strangely ever since we broke down that door."

Robin eyed her carefully. "Did anything happen when you broke down the door?"

"No! Well Ryan got covered in dust from the door." Terra added with a touch of desperation. Over the communicator Terra saw Robin visibly pale.

"Oh no..." Robin muttered. "Alright Terra listen because there isn't much time and the hallucinations are only going to get worse." Terra nodded and Robin continued. "Ryan's been poisoned. That "dust" from the door was a highly advanced chemical reagent. It causes paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations. The hallucinations are so vivid and real that your body perceives injury when you fight them. Now stopping it is the hard part. In order for the hallucinations to stop you have to convince Ryan that what he's seeing isn't real. Once he accepts that, his mind will dispel the illusion. But because of the paranoia the toxin induces that won't be easy. The only advice I can give you is that the hallucinations only attack in the dark. So I would advise lighting the room. Turn on your locator beacon and I'll be there soon. Good luck Terra. Robin out."

Terra realized that she had a very tall order ahead of her. But one of her friends was in danger and, frankly, even if Robin had told her the only cure was to do handstands across the roof while wearing a hot dog suit she would have done it without hesitation. It was only then Terra realized that Ryan was gone. He hadn't slipped by her so there must have been another way out. Sure enough, as she looked around, she spied a small passageway and headed down it. As she walked she lightly pressed the center of the butterfly clip in her hair which began flashing red.

Terra emerged onto a small ledge and noticed that she was in a cavern similar to the last one except for the fact that the cavern she was in now was filled with crystals. Hundreds of them lined the walls. Looking over the edge she saw that the floor was about ten feet below her. And on the floor, slumped up against a crystal formation, was Ryan. He was waving his arm weakly in front of him as if to ward of his invisible tormentor.

Seeing him like this tore Terra apart. "Ryan!" she shouted down to him. He slowly turned his head up to her. "You have to trust me. What your seeing isn't real."

"How can it not be real?!" he cried back. "I can feel my body in pain from his hits... I think I'm going to die here. He won't stop until I'm dead..."

Ryan's voice gave Terra pause. She had never seen him afraid before much less terrified. But here he was and she could hear the fear in his voice. The poor guy was scared out of his mind. "Listen Ryan. You've been poisoned. That dust from the door was a trap by Slade. You can beat it if you just realize that it's all an illusion."

"I...I... I can't!" Ryan screamed.

"Yes you can Ryan! Just trust me!"

There were several seconds if silence following this. Then; "I... trust you" Ryan murmured.

He turned his attention back in front of him. "Terra's right! Your not real Tarvis! Get out of my head!" Ryan shouted with a touch of his old forcefulness. Suddenly Robin's words echoed in her mind and Terra got an idea.

Pulling out Robin's flashlight she called out. "Ryan! The illusions vanish in light. Use the crystals!" Terra tossed the flashlight down to Ryan who seemed to understand immediately. He jammed the light into the formation he was up against and clicked it on. The gem began absorbing the light and refracting it all over the entire cavern. The hundreds of crystals began absorbing these light rays and soon the entire cave was filled with a luminous and multicolored light. In Ryan's view the image of Tarvis phased out and disappeared. He was gone.

Ryan gave out a cry of thanks and collapsed on the ground, his costume receding into his back. Terra dropped to the floor and hurried to his side. He didn't look to good. His arms and face were all covered in bruises. His breath came out in heaving gasps. Ryan looked up at Terra and smiled weakly. "Thanks." he muttered and began to pull himself to his feet.

Terra helped him up. "Are you alright?" she asked with concern lacing her voice. It was then she noticed Ryan's eyes were puffy and red, like he had been crying. Wether from emotional or physical pain she couldn't say. But she felt for him.

Ryan grimaced at her question. "I'll live." he replied with a groan.

"Guys!"

Both Terra and Ryan looked up to see Robin drop in from the same ledge they had come from. He looked fairly close to panic, which was highly unusual for the Boy Wonder. "Are you guys okay?!" Robin asked immediately.

Ryan nodded. "We're fine now. Close call though."

Robin nodded his head gravely. "I've been gassed by that stuff before. I know that its no fun at all."

Ryan seemed to be getting his bearings back. "I think I've wasted enough time. Let's go find Slade."

Before Terra or Robin could agree a cold voice sounded above them. "My dear boy I believe it's far to late for that." As one the trio looked up to se none other than Slade himself standing on the ledge. "For you see... I've already found you.

x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.x.o.

Dark-Flame: A cliffhanger again. I feel like such a jerk. Oh well. REVIEW FOR THE LOVE OF CHEESE.


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